An artistic duo whose works featured a Hezbollah leader in a glorifying light will represent Australia on the global stage despite being banned earlier in the year.
Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino had been selected by Creative Australia to represent Australia at the 2026 Venice Biennale, a major international art exhibition showcasing creative works from around the world.
“With such appalling anti-Semitism in our country, why is the Albanese government allowing the person who highlights a terrorist leader in his artwork to represent Australia on the international stage at the Venice Biennale?” she asked in parliament.
In response, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she had been unaware of the artist’s past, but agreed that artworks glorifying the terrorist leader were inappropriate.
Chandler also stated that Sabsabi had created artwork promoting Osama Bin Laden and a series of 9/11 images of the aircraft hitting the Twin Towers titled “Thank you very much.”
At the time, Creative Australia—a government body overseeing the arts—pulled the pair from the event around concerns of social division.
The organisation cited an “unacceptable risk” to public support for Australia’s artistic community that could undermine the goal of bringing Australians together.
Artists Issued Apology
On July 2, the Australia Council Board of Creative Australia announced it had backflipped on its decision to ban the two artists.The organisation said a review conducted by Blackhall and Pearl had found no error in the appointment of Sabsabi and Dagostino.
“There was no single reason, cause, person or act that created the circumstances in which the board felt compelled to decide as it did in Feb.,” Acting Creative Australia Board Chair Wesley Enoch said.
“Rather it was a complex series of events that created a unique set of circumstances which the board had to address.
“The Blackhall and Pearl review has shone a valuable light on our processes, and we have learned from that and taken a path that reflects the necessary evaluations and risk analysis recommended by the reviewers.”
Enoch said the board had subsequently decided the best way forward was to reappoint the two men to represent Australia and to commit to “freedom of artistic expression.”
An apology was issued by the board to the two artists.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia owns Sabsabi’s 2007 art installation featuring Nasrallah, titled “You,” which describes him as “the leader of the Lebanese paramilitary and political organisation Hezbollah.”
Hezbollah is a recognised terrorist organisation in Australia.
The installation features words from a rally following a 34-day war with Israel, with the museum describing it as giving Nasrullah “divine illumination.”
The museum says the work “plays on Western fears of cultural difference.”
The 61st Venice Biennale will run from May 6 to Nov. 22, 2026.
